How Gardens Grow Us

Poppy Okotcha is a gardener. It’s a description that can mean so many things, from someone who potters in the back yard at the weekends to a professional with an encyclopedic knowledge of botany. For Poppy, being a gardener is a philosophy and a metaphor – a way of living that transcends the space we call a garden and extends into every part of life.

“It’s the difference between an identity and a vocation,” she explains from her cottage in Devon. “Gardening fuels everything I do. It’s at the root of everything - my passion and my source of inspiration.”

Things haven’t always been so clear cut. Poppy began her career as a model, living in London and travelling the world to help sell clothes that she increasingly feared were causing harm. “Modelling was a means to financial freedom when I was young,” she says. “I was at a stage in my life when I was seeking adventure and thrill, the opportunity to meet people who were doing interesting, creative things.”

Though she doesn’t reflect on it as a wholly negative time, “It just quickly became apparent that it wasn’t sustainable for the planet… or for me. I always had a nagging feeling that I wanted to give more to the world, and that partly came from my dad – I’ve got Nigerian heritage and there’s so much emphasis in our culture on doing something that is honorable and in service of others.”

From her canal boat home, she began growing plants, exploring their uses in food and medicine, and training in permaculture, all the while sharing her experiences on social media. Her audience grew, and in June 2020, she left London for Devon with her partner.

When she first arrived five years ago, her garden was a “fantasy” of brambles, nettles, towering fennel, purple toadflax, languishing lavender, ragwort and fruiting raspberry canes among a “muddle” of 150 plants vying for space. Poppy saw potential. A place to put down roots, start a family and give her permaculture education a much wider rein than London living had allowed.

“My first exposure to permaculture was on a trip to India, when I visited a permaculture forest project,” explains Poppy, referring to an approach to cultivation that sees land and life as one connected ecosystem. “The garden was used as a site to springboard off into broader political realities, community, wellbeing and collective resilience. It was empowering to come across something that was focused on what we can do, rather than on what we can’t do.”

The three main tenets of permaculture are: people care, earth care and fair share. And these guide everything Poppy does, as she maintains her own garden, works in a community space near her home and raises her baby.

“Permaculture is a framework for a resilient way of living, operating a business or running a garden or anything in life, and most of it is common sense,” she explains. “The tried-and-tested practices track back to things that have been done around the world by indigenous communities, or peasant farmers, who have had to live sustainably out of necessity for thousands of years. Permaculture turns that wisdom into an accessible language that people can relate to and practise.”

For Poppy, gardening is a metaphor for building strength and resilience in the face of the minor and major shocks life tends to deal everyone. The garden can teach us about “care, reciprocity, sharing, discipline and hard work,” she says. As it continues to guide and anchor her, she continues to share her journey with her followers on Instagram - though she is increasingly enjoying more traditional ways of communicating. Poppy’s new book, A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us, is a satisfying and deep blend of memoir, stories from nature and hard-won knowledge.

“It was just such a pleasure to have the opportunity to spend a long time delving into my thoughts, unpacking them fully without having to fear limited word counts and algorithms,” says Poppy. “I got the chance to research the cosmology of my Nigerian heritage and the tribe that I’m from, and that was life-changing.” The book is also full of inspiration for growing and living in harmony with your garden, practical tips on how to achieve abundant harvests in all seasons, and recipes you can create that heal and nourish both your body and the land.

“The book is a bit of an antidote to fast information, which is as bad for you as fast food and fast fashion,” says Poppy. “I really hope that some of the ideas I’ve shared have a positive effect on people, in the same way they have transformed my own life.”

Now, Poppy is looking forward to enjoying the bounty of the season at home. “Spring in my garden is one of my favourite times,” she says. “Right now the daffodils have faded, but there are plenty of tulips and I’m planting out the tomatoes. The apple trees are in bloom and the bluebells are up. It’s all so soft and luscious.”

Poppy wears the TOAST Garment Dyed Linen Apron Dress and the Check Cotton Linen Wrap Dress.

A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us by Poppy Okotcha is available now.

Words by Zena Alkayat.

Photography by Ellie Smith.